


Tale as Old as Crime

by RoleplayFanfics



Category: RWBY
Genre: Adam Taurus redeeming himself somewhat, Adam not dying, Angst, Anti-Faunus Racism (RWBY), Cancelled death, F/F, F/M, Faunus Politics, Fluff, Gen, Good Adam Taurus, Humor, Huntsman Adam, Hurt, M/M, Multi, Post canon, Redemption, Regrets, Self-Reflection, So what if Adam didn't die, Sun Wukong is a good boy, Team SSSN - Freeform, Team SSSN are good boys, redemption arc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22970917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoleplayFanfics/pseuds/RoleplayFanfics
Summary: That was the path which he had trudged down, and the path which had sent his former lover to seek to kill him. He had pushed her this far, thus he held no grudges towards her for her actions, and he no longer felt the need to get revenge on her. That flame had been quelled in blood and water, and the ice cold realization that she had been prepared to end him. All Adam wished for now was to rest. He didn’t want to go to prison, to be locked up like an animal, but what else was there for him now? He had fought, he had run, he had tried so many ways of escaping. All of which had led to further denial and more pain. Maybe it was the medicine which made him feel that way, but he was nonetheless tired. Adam didn’t want to run anymore, he no longer had the strength to fight. He was resigning to what was coming for him, and he held no desires to continue on living like he had.It was, to put it simply, over. Adam Taurus no longer had the will to fight.----Team SSSN find a washed up, near dead, and seriously wounded Adam on the shores of Argus, debating what the Hell to do with the faunus now.
Relationships: Adam Taurus/Sun Wukong, Blake Belladonna & Adam Taurus, Blake Belladonna/Adam Taurus
Comments: 14
Kudos: 39





	Tale as Old as Crime

**Author's Note:**

> Written by Teddy.  
> Edited by Nathan.

“Oh.” 

Of all the things to say when one was stabbed, ‘oh’ might not be the most creative line to utter. 

In all honesty, ‘oh’ was probably more of a sound than it was a line or a word. Not to mention that he had in fact been stabbed twice, perhaps that was an excuse for not finding anything better to say. The pain was surprisingly easy to stand; it was as if his body had grown cold. He could feel the familiar yet alien scent of Blake’s hair, and then Wilt and Blush was yanked out of him from the woman behind him, and Blake pulled out her own blade. 

The pain had not yet hit him as he stumbled forward. His mind was trying to comprehend what had happened still, and as he sank down to his knees, all he knew was that he was confused, and cold. He raised his head, looking up at the clear, blue sky, before he was suddenly falling. There was something like another pain, an impact of some kind, and then the water swallowed him, mercilessly pulling him away from land, and towards seas unknown. Adam closed his eyes, not struggling against the stream and pain as the water took him. 

He didn’t even imagine escaping the water. He never imagined escaping death. 

_ Okay… But what do we do with him?  _

_ Mouth to mouth? Push against the chest like one, two, three? _

_ He had GIANT holes in his chest. If you push, he’ll bleed out faster. _

_ Then do something! _

_ Why should I do something?  _

_ Move over, I’ll do it myself.  _

_ But he’s… you know.  _

_ Move aside, damn it.  _

Were those voices? Adam could vaguely hear and understand them. They seemed to be arguing. He wanted to open his eyes and look at them, he wanted to move, he wanted to do… something. Yet his consciousness drifted away again, and he was lost to the darkness. 

The next time Adam woke up, he heard another voice speaking. No, not speaking, the voice was pladdering. The faunus groaned, wishing that the other person would not keep on babbling so loudly. The voice was so much of an irritation that it took the former leader of the White Fang longer than it should have to realize that he was alive. The pain should have been a sign. 

“Oh shit, he made a noise? Was that a noise? Hey, you made a noise, right?”

Slowly, slowly, he forced his eyes open, although only one of them could see. Bodily functions dictated that if one eye opened, so did the other, unless effort was put into keeping one eye shut. The world slowly came into view again, and Adam realized to his great discomfort that nothing was shielding his face from the rest of the world. He quickly became self conscious, despite him having far larger problems than his scarred face. 

“Oh great, you did wake up? You okay? We tried our best to patch you together, but none of us are really experts on CPR and stuff. We dared to move you here, but moving you again with those wounds feels really not good.”

A person was slowly coming into view, as Adam struggled to keep up with the blabbering. He saw a man with blonde hair and somewhat tanned skin, smiling at him with the brightness of the sun itself. The man was sitting cross legged on the same bed as Adam was lying on, a bed which was a little too big for one person. Well, at least it made them both fit in it without any trouble. The teenager didn’t wear a shirt, and seemed perfectly comfortable being half naked. Seeing the other man’s naked chest made the man realize that he was completely naked under the covers. He wasn’t exactly ashamed over his body, and he quickly concluded that his clothes had been removed due to being wet. It took Adam a little longer to realize that the teenager had a tail, and that he was speaking to a fellow faunus. He relaxed somewhat when he realized that, and even allowed his eyes to shut again, as he took a few slow, deep breaths. 

“I...see. You talk a lot…” It might have been more fitting to say ‘thank you,’ but Adam wasn’t used to such words, and he still found it hard to feel thankful towards anyone. 

“Really? Never heard that one before.” He couldn’t tell if the other was joking or not. Still, the blonde one sounded happy, almost irritatingly happy. “So how do you feel, Adam? Are you in dying pain, or ‘think I will survive’ pain?” 

Adam’s eyes snapped open as he looked over at the other, years of resentment, spite and fear passing in them as he stared at the blonde teenager. Whoever this was knew his name. 

One of the reason’s Adam liked to hide his eyes was because he was far too aware of how bad his undamaged eye was at hiding emotions. The last thing he wanted was to have fear acknowledged as an emotion he could feel. 

“What?” The other faunus was grinning at him with that insanely bright smile of his. He was enjoying this… “You think I wouldn’t know who you are? Sorry, but I never forget a face.” 

Adam blinked slowly, he still felt on edge, but it was hard to feel threatened by this teenager. However, it was far easier to feel annoyed by him. “I don’t recall meeting you before.” He stated the words calmly, and without emotion. The pain was taking his darker emotions away, and he found that he was sinking back into a calmer, less stressed state of being. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it was due to the medicine he had most likely been given to ease his pain. Still… he couldn’t bring himself to care. All things considered, he had completely failed everyone and everything, and he was all but dying. He should be dead. He was not very likely to walk away from the authorities ever again, it didn’t feel very reasonable to be angry, or defensive. 

Adam just felt empty and tired. Mostly tired and in pain. 

“You don’t? We met at Haven, in Mistral! When your whole gang was overwhelmed by Ghira Belladonna and the faunus of Menagerie who rose up against you,” the other pladdered on. Did he even pause to breathe? He must have strong lungs.

“Oh.” Adam’s face showed no emotions, and his voice was filled with disinterest. “I don’t recall seeing you there.” 

“I volunteered.” Still grinning. “My name is Sun, Sun Wukong. I’m from Vacuo, and I’m the team leader of team SSSN. How can you not remember me? I kicked your ass.” 

“You’re a huntsman in training then?” Adam asked, looking over the other’s face while trying to keep his wounded side somewhat hidden. Luckily, there was a wall to his left, thus he could hide the left side rather well. The teenager sat between Adam and the exit, blocking the way off the bed with his body. Adam ignored the part of having his ass kicked, he figured that he’d actually recall it if that had been the truth. 

“Yeah, me and my merry band of to-be-huntsmen are practicing here in Argus. One of my team members is insanely scared of water, it’s ridiculous, so we’re training close to water to work on that. The goal is to get him into the water, but we’re still on the way of getting there Are you listening to me?” 

“...Mn.” Adam confirmed as he tried to sit up just a little more, trying to see if he could look outside. Argus was a coastal town, but it wasn’t exactly a city which was built alongside a river. He was probably not close at all to where he had fallen. Somehow it felt a tad more reassuring to at least begin to know where he was. “I can’t hear the city… Are we outside of it?” 

“Yeah, we’re in these little houses for hire. They are apparently pretty popular as training camp houses for Huntresses and Huntsmen, as I said, we’re pretty close to the sea.” Adam hadn’t really expected the teenager to answer. “This place gets some grim attacks now and then, but not nearly as much as the city of Argus itself. Not only are there training cabins here, but professional Huntresses to protect the people training.” 

“I hear you read their marketing campaign.” Adam had managed to sit up, sort off, he looked towards the window, but all he could see was the sea. He stopped, avoiding looking at the other as realization hit him. “...Why am I not with those professional Huntresses instead of here with you? I’m a criminal, according to them, is that not so?” 

It… hurt to admit. Adam’s face showed none of the pain, neither did his voice reveal it, but the one blue eye was filled with regret. He avoided looking at the teeanger, Adam knew better than anyone that he had a lot to regret, and had made so many mistakes that he couldn’t even begin to count them. It was no longer that he was a criminal, according to ‘them,’ he was a criminal to everyone at this point. 

That was the path which he had trudged down, and the path which had sent his former lover to seek to kill him. He had pushed her this far, thus he held no grudges towards her for her actions, and he no longer felt the need to get revenge on her. That flame had been quelled in blood and water, and the ice cold realization that she had been prepared to end him. All Adam wished for now was to rest. He didn’t want to go to prison, to be locked up like an animal, but what else was there for him now? He had fought, he had run, he had tried so many ways of escaping. All of which had led to further denial and more pain. Maybe it was the medicine which made him feel that way, but he was nonetheless tired. Adam didn’t want to run anymore, he no longer had the strength to fight. He was resigning to what was coming for him, and he held no desires to continue on living like he had. 

It was, to put it simply, over. Adam Taurus no longer had the will to fight. 

“We’re sort of… debating it now.” The teenager admitted, as he scratched the back of his head. “Well, first of all, we weren’t sure if we should even save you in the first place, but it is against my nature to leave somebody when I can help them. And as I said before, you are kind of badly hurt, and we don’t want anyone to try and move you before you’ve at least healed a little more. Aaaand there was a grim attack against Argus recently, so the authorities are very busy over there, and we can’t get in contact with them until tomorrow.” Sun ended his speech with a shrug. “We’re still not sure who to hand you over to… I’m thinking that we also have the opinion of contacting Blake’s dad, which might even give you a… less harsh sentence? Maybe?” The teenager seemed to think back about Ghira Belladonna, and judging by his honest expression, he had a little hard time believing that the man would be kind to Adam. Adam shared that impression with him. 

“...I see. I suppose I won’t run. I wouldn't get very far.” He sighed, and let his eyes fall shut. 

He had expected the conversation to be over, but the other faunus spoke up again. “What… happened to you?” 

Adam opened his eyes again, and looked at Sun. The teenager looked honest, and concerned. He did not seem like he wanted to ask the question, but the other clearly felt like he should. The red haired man thought it over, he didn’t have any desire to speak of his past, but then again, he had never tried to. Nobody asked, nobody knew, nobody thought about it. Not even Blake. Adam didn’t even stop to consider that the teenager might be asking him what happened to him being stabbed, rather than asking about his face. 

Adam was ashamed over the mark, he hated the idea of people looking at him with those kind of hushed, frightened eyes. People who felt bad for him, but were also relieved that it was him and not them. Not to mention that it was incredibly shameful to be branded in the first place. It was not the only brand on his body, but the other ones weren’t quite so visible. Unless he was naked. Which he sometimes was. Then he was ashamed over those marks too. However, Adam was seldom naked in front of people, so the insecurity was never that present. 

Then again… what was the point by now… What was the point in hiding anything from anyone. Adam had never really tried to be honest, if one was quiet and did what was needed, people tended to fill in the rest of one’s personality. It was easier to adapt to what people wanted to see or hear, and then manipulate the rest for the best end result. However, there wasn’t much of a point to that anymore. Maybe it was time to try out honesty, as everything else had failed. 

“...It’s a brand. Like they did with cattle back in... history.” The sentence ended with him being unable to pinpoint an exact time in history. “It’s something they used to do to faunus who worked in the dust mines, brand us like animals, keep us in cages, and claim us criminals if we escaped. You should know all this.” The last words were dry, just shy of angry, but not quite there. 

The teenager squirmed. “Well… that’s not what it was like where I was from… Nobody treats faunus that badly, at least not anymore. I… I never heard of them outright branding people like that!” 

“That is what it was like in Atlas, if you grew up in Mantle and didn’t end up in the dust mines, you were lucky beyond measure. I…” He hesitated, carefully lifting a hand to touch his burn scarred face. “By those laws, I’m not a person. I’m not part of the workforce, I’m… property.” Adam had not expected it to be this hard to speak of. “The laws have changed, I don’t think that they are allowed to brand their workers anymore, but as I escaped before those laws were implemented, it is more likely than not that I would be sent back to Atlas, to my  _ owners _ ” he spit the word out like a curse. “And that the Schnee Dust Company would be forced to pay for the damages I have caused. I suppose I hope that those costs will be enough to ruin the entire company…” He wished that he could have sounded more gleeful about it, yet he sounded mostly tired. 

“Wait, wait, they could do that? Judge you by old laws based on you running away from being property? That’s… insane…” The happy teenager looked deterred now. It was not an expression which fit on his face. 

“They could not force me to stay, or to work for them anymore, but they would still be responsible for the damages I’ve caused. Atlas law is… hard, and very inflexible. Yet I suppose it is helping people, in some ways, these days. Not only the rich ones in Atlas.” Adam continued to explain. 

“This… seems a little immoral. And bad. And also wrong. Uh, maybe we just… don’t hand you back to Atlas and the Schnee Dust Company…” 

Adam smiled, weakly. “I don’t think that’s for you to decide. But… I…” He struggled to find words. “Appreciate it.”

Sun gave him a weak smile back. “Hey, your face looks a lot softer when you smile.”

Adam shrugged, very slowly. He really didn’t know what else to say to such a comment. 

The blonde teenager spoke again, this time a little slower, quickly clueing Adam in on that he was uncomfortable with what he was saying. “So… uh… I couldn’t help but notice, when we were removing your wet clothes that, uh… you have more of those brands… Do they, I mean, is it usual that…” 

Adam shook his head. It was getting a little easier to talk about it, and it felt as if something heavy had been lifted from his shoulders as he continued to speak. Mh, maybe it wasn’t so bad to talk about things, after all. It wasn’t like the facts changed just because he hid them, and it wasn’t like this Sun person could do anything specific with the information beside reacting. Adam had always avoided it, based on fears of having people not listen to him. Then he had ended up telling people what they wanted to hear, as well as telling them things which would bring the most positive outcome for himself. That could not really be counted as talking about things. That was more… denying things in convincing ways. It seemed this faunus here was at least listening. 

“They added one more for every time I tried to run.” He admitted, his hand turning into a fist by his side, as he stopped himself from touching the brand on his hip. They were all the same, all spelling out the letters he hated, S, D and C. “The third time I was brought back, they… gave me the one over my face. A final brand to stop me from running, to make sure I would never get help from anyone again. I suppose it worked until I hid behind a mask. That mark assured that I could never have a normal life, or to live freely. There wasn’t really a point to trying…” He trailed off, avoiding the other faunus’ eyes. “I had already been sent back before, for being faunus, there was no way anyone would help me with… their mark over my face.”

Sun frowned down at him, torn between his good nature and his knowledge over the things which Adam had done. The blonde teenager chewed on his lower lip as he thought. “I...mean… For all the horrible things you’ve done, especially towards Blake, I really can’t say that I can forgive or ignore that type of behavior. I… guess I sympathize, but that doesn’t mean that I believe anything of what you did was right.” 

Adam didn’t feel angry over the accusations, but he did feel slightly upset. “Oh. Yes, of course, everything I did was absolutely horrible.”

“Well… yeah… sort of.” The teenager agreed. 

“You believe fighting for equal rights to be a bad thing?” Adam’s voice had turned cold, and even more monotone than usual. “You believe using violence where everything else failed, to be unfair? Our people were dying in those mines, people like me lost their eyesight based on wishing to escape that nightmare. And people like you, faunus like you, blissfully live your lives pretending not to notice anything.” Adam stared at him, his eyes full of hatred. Then he realized that he was getting upset, and he turned his head away. He huffed, and slowly shook his head. “...I did not mean to raise my voice.” 

“Well… uh, that sure was a speech…” Sun spoke, after a short silence. “It just doesn’t exactly sound sincere after you tried to blow everyone up back at Haven Academy when you were cornered.” 

Adam avoided looking at him still, as he sank back in the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “...I have no justification for that.” He finally admitted, still speaking to the ceiling, it was white, he could see a fly crawling about in that sea of white nothingness. 

“Do you...uh, know why you did it? I guess I just want to believe that people aren’t just evil, and it seems weird that they would follow you if you were this quick to sacrifice them.” The teenager really didn’t know how to hold his tongue, did he? 

The former leader of the White Fang subtly groaned, turning his head away once more. “It… was not supposed to… I mean… Even saying it, it sounds like an excuse…” He trailed off, and moved his hand up to cover his face, failing to even begin speaking of how badly everything had turned out. 

“...Well, no matter what you say, you’ve kind of already messed up very badly. I guess you can start with what you were trying to do, like, how come the White Fang helped bring Grimm into Vale and destroy Beacon Academy and all that?” 

Adam turned to face the other again, this time, he wasn’t looking upset anymore, he simply looked tired. “...I was given an ultimatum. I rejected them once before, but when they came the second time, I was unable to do it again, as they threatened to hurt the people who I was leading. They had already hurt some of them, and were likely to slay the entire group had I refused. Further, they would fund the White Fang with Dust, something we desperately needed. Their plan was… dangerous, but it ended up being successful. We’ve never hurt the humans as effectively before. It was a victory in our leader’s eyes.” 

“Yeah… hurting the humans; you didn’t at all manage to hurt a lot of faunus as well in doing something as stupid as to bring Grimm into the city.” The teenager’s voice was dry. He stared down at Adam like a disapproving parent as he crossed his arms over his chest. “And it branded the White Fang as even bigger terrorists than before, making people fear Faunus even more than before. That had a great effect on us, great job.” 

“...Yes, that was not… very effective.” Adam admitted, moving his arms up to hug himself under the covers. “At the time, it felt like we did make a difference. Sienna Khan, the leader of the White Fang, was satisfied with it, and it felt like the White Fang had finally done something to teach the humans that we were a force to fear.” 

“You really didn’t, you just made it worse for others. I’m… I’m sorry. I understand that your actions were brought about by necessity. Or, well, at least what you presumed to be necessary.” The teenager continued, looking at Adam with eyes which the older man did not like at all. Careful, worried, regretful. He didn’t want people to look at him like that. 

“...You’ve met Ghira Belladonna, right?” It wasn’t so much a question as it was a confirmation. Sun nodded, leaning forward a little, as he turned curious as to where Adam was going with the question. “I saved his life once. Actually, that was when I first killed…” He added the last sentence as an afterthought. “It was… not my intention to kill the human, but he was running towards the ones I was trying to protect, and I had the choice of letting him reach them or… stopping him. I didn’t really mean to, and I felt… bad about it. Then, I was surrounded by cheering voices. They were thanking me, congratulating me… I think some even applauded.” He trailed off, turning to face the wall again. 

Growing up alone in the dark and sooth of the Dust mines, there were many things which an orphan could wish for and seek, one of the things which stuck with Adam was his desire to be recognized, accepted, and loved. He had fought because it was the right thing to do, and he had protected his people because that is what he had always wanted someone to do. He had not meant to kill that human, but after that, he had received the praise and recognition which he so desperately longed for. One mistake had proven the key to his desires. After that, the mistake turned into the solution. After all, humans killed faunus all the time, both through action and inaction. 

Yet some people didn’t see it that way. Blake didn’t see it that way. 

That was why he had started to call them ‘accidents.’ 

Ghira Belladonna had been suspicious about him ever since the first accident. The two of them got along decently, and they never outright addressed their differences. Still, Adam did not think that the man would agree to him training Blake upon the girl’s request. Further, he did not expect the other man to accept him and his daughter dating. Adam didn’t understand the relationship between a father and daughter. He didn’t understand parents. 

Blake. 

It had been so long since he thought about what she was like back then. It was far too easy to think of the pain and the hurt she had caused. Adam thought back to the way she had looked at him, like he was the strongest person she knew. Like he meant something. There was pity too, of course, she had seen his face after all, it was inevitable… Anyone who saw the scar looked at him with those eyes. Still, she was different. She… had been different. 

He had dared to relax around her. He had found that he wanted her, found that he had needed her. He became reliant, he became loyal. 

Yet she was… different.

She had started seeing through him. She had seen what was behind the mask, and she saw through him. He couldn’t anymore be what she wanted to see, like he had attempted all along with everyone else. The lies became abundant, and they suffocated them both, until Blake had enough. 

He had shown her too much. She had meant too much. Love had turned to resentment, resentment to hatred, hatred to obsession, and those feelings had eaten his life away. Even as everything else was gone, Adam had still blamed her, it was the one thing he could direct his feelings towards. He had thought to leave her alone at first, to move on and let the emptiness left by her fade away, to focus on his purpose and goals, but she had continuously gotten in his path. Everywhere he went, whatever he tried to do, she was there. He had hid his discomfort with mocking her, deciding on a whim that he would and could take away what was hers in revenge, in attacking Yang Xiao Long. As the two ran off, Adam had retreated and calmed himself. 

There really had been no point, and nothing to gain in chasing after the two of them, and he realized that he had been wanting to scare them more than he had actually wanted them dead. He might have struck to kill Blake back there, but he had later realized that he hadn’t really wished her to die. After that realization, he had aimed to simply not think of her, and only deal with the woman if she showed up and placed herself in his way. 

That attitude had changed after she had brought the entirety of Menagerie with her to stand against him. The people he was protecting, the people who should have been grateful and happy for the things he had the White Fang had done were all… against him. When they were safely hidden away out of harm’s way, Adam and the Fang had been their protectors, and the ones to make a difference for them. Yet there they were, as a whole, too weak and scared to fight, people to be protected, rising up against the wrong cause. Rallied by her. 

It had been an impulse, a split second, mad idea, to push the detonation button. The second after he did it, he had realized what he had done, and regretted it, but there was no going back. If it was for their cause, for their people, then…

Nothing had happened. 

And so, he had become the villain. That easily. 

No, it hadn’t been that easy. He had made so many more mistakes, over a much longer period. He had made new ones, over and over again, until all that was left was a villain. What had happened at Haven was that Adam could no longer see himself as anything but the villain, and everyone else was more than eager to point out to him that he was but a monster. 

Adam glanced back at the happy teenager, and then sighed. “It’s over, nonetheless. I don’t plan on doing anything anymore. I’m not getting revenge, I’m not going to fight for the faunus who betrayed me, I’m not going to fight against… anything. I’m… tired. I’ll accept whatever happens to me from now on.” Somewhere throughout his words, he turned to face the wall once more. He didn’t want to see the other’s eyes, he didn’t want to see what was likely to be pity or something similar, or worse yet, the other’s eyes could tell him that the other thought he deserved it all. He did deserve it after what he did. 

It felt like an eternity until the teenager spoke up: “well… You really do seem like you have been through a lot. I sort of see where you are going with the whole adoration thing. I guess everyone wants that. Or, not everyone, but, like… many.” 

“...You’re truly a philosopher.” 

Sun chuckled, but then turned serious again. “But I do mean it, if you’re really honest, and I think you are, then I don’t think you deserve to be handed off to the authorities and killed in some shady way. You’ve kinda suffered enough, long before this even started? After all, Illya got away, and she had done some pretty bad things too.”

Adam looked at him now, stared at the teenager, as if trying to see though his eyes and into his head. To his great surprise and confusion, it seemed to him that the man was… serious. He simply couldn’t believe it. “...Uh… What?” Not his most… classy response. 

“...Hm, yeah. I really do think that Adam Taurus should die, no, he has died. You could be anyone now, go away and have a new life. If you really are sincere in not wanting to hurt anyone anymore.”

“You… cannot be… serious…” Adam managed to stagger out a sentence in response. 

“No, I really am. You could just start over, you probably deserve a chance to have a normal life. Then again, that would be a waste of your fighting talents… maybe you could join a school for Huntresses and Huntsmen? Or uh, I mean, you can technically take the licence exam even without attending school. With your talents and all.” 

In his utter confusion, Adam only managed to cling onto one confused thought. “But… your team, there is… no way that they would even begin to agree to such a proposition…” 

“First of all, bold of you to speak for them when you’ve never met them in a way which counts. And second, they don’t really have anything to comment on in regards to faunus business. They know it’s not really their place to get involved in these things, seeing they weren’t there or affected.” 

The former leader of the White Fang blinked. “You mean to tell me that you are the team leader… and you are leading a bunch of humans?” 

“Uh, yeah?” Sun grinned at him, leaning his head to the side. “Problem with that?”

“They made you their leader?” Sun nodded. “Then they… you… they all believe you to be the best of them, and most capable?” 

The teenager was still grinning. “Yeah. They do.” 

“But that is… impossible…” For all his talk about leading the humans, of being their masters and having them as their servants, Adam had no idea how to begin to comprehend that a band of humans had chosen a faunus as their leader. Willingly. 

The faunus shifted on the bed, sitting up and coming closer, bending down and stared Adam straight into his eyes. The man couldn’t help himself but to pull back, and try to avoid the other’s eyes. “So,” Sun began to grin, Adam could see it even though he wasn’t looking directly at him. “If it is impossible, how come it’s true?” 

Adam could feel his cheeks turn warmer, and he lifted his hand to place it over the other’s face, trying to push the other away from not being so very close. He had really only had one person that close in his life, and that was his lover. The act became all the more intimate and frightening when it was someone new, someone whom he didn’t quite know. The teenager chuckled at his shy reaction, and moved back, causing the former leader of the White Fang to subtly sigh with relief. 

“There is no need to be that close…” Adam mumbled out, as the silence was starting to fill the room. He did his best to hold back a yawn, the tiredness was starting to pull him deeper into the bed, to a place where the pain didn’t quite exist. 

“Fine, fine.” The teenager chuckled again. It wasn’t… that unpleasant of a sound. “You should probably try to get some more rest though, you look like you need a nap or five.” 

Adam was about to argue, but the teenager gave him a skeptical look, and so he shut his mouth again. “...You might be right. I will try to sleep some more.” He allowed the pillows and the blanket to pull him under, and he closed his eyes. 

“Sleep well. Don’t, uh… I mean, there will be water next to you when you wake up, so take it easy.” 

“Mhnm…” This bed was truly wonderful. It felt like so very long since he had the chance to rest without his head overflowing with thoughts, plans and anxieties. Adam left his mind drift away from his body, the pain turning into a forgotten, far away throb. As his body turned warmer and heavier, Adam fell asleep. 


End file.
